Viking 0 #1 October 23, 2001 First before i start the story a little background info I went with a fellow classmate named Jennifer. Ok now we had decided to leave from the school at around 4pm on thursday so we wouldn't have to drive up there in the middle of the night and not get any sleep b/c we had to be up before sunrise so we could take pictures of the sun rising over the Trona Pincles. So i get to school and put all my bags in the photo department building and wait outside for My ride to show up. while i was waiting i browsed through a photo magazine and saw an add for a SLIKK tripods and thought "man i need to get a lighter tripod" b/c my current one is kinda heavy to be lugging around the desert and then it hits me SHIT I FORGOT MY TRIPOD!!! So i call up my mom and explain and she races back to school to deliver it right as Jen shows up. Crisis one overted. We load all my stuff into the Red 97ish explorer and head off to the 15 and i pop in one of my George Carlin CD's and we laugh our ass' off until we realize we need ice for cooler in the back so we stop and get 40 pounds at ralphs and then get back on the road as we pass Parris i feel compelled to tell her so and proceed to blab about my short carrie in the sport and all the cool people i have met and all the awsome times i have had, this gets her all excited about jumping and i ask her a few questions. 1) are you afraid of hights? she says yes (strike one) 2) Do you have any knee, back, neck, ankle injures? She tells me that she has blown out both of her knee's playing soccer and that her neck and back got screwed up in a car reck. (big strike 2) At this point i don't feel like completely crushing her so i just tell her that it wouldn't be a smart thing for her to do with her knee's and back not being in good condition. She realizes i am trying to save the pain of more injuries and turns on Mr. Carlin again. We get to Trona Pincles just outside Death Valley National Park at about 8:30 pm and move things in the car around so we can try to get some sleep. This is kinda hard with one of those old style clicking alarm clocks doing it thing. But we do get a few hours sleep and are woken by the ringing of the clock on the very cold temp in the car. We get up and wait for the sun to arive. While doing so alot of the other members of the landscape class show up and we chat about how there drives up went. So the sun comes up everybody goes nuts taking pictures and climbing on stuff and generally having a good time. I climbed on a pincle to watch the best part of the sunrise and to snap a few pics. I also wondered around and found a few other pics. After that we packed up and drove into the park through several VERY small towns i think the biggest one had a population of 3500 people. Ok so after several huge straight peices of road we get into the Park and stop at Stovepipe Wells for gas and then go and reserve a camping spot at Furnace Creek with a large tree to put the Tent under. We then grab a couple hours of sleep before heading out to Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Which is a bunch of really bright hills that were used for Borax mining. We go and explore as many as we can find and on the hole they weren't that long and had no open pits or anything you could expect out of and old mine. Anyway after that we go back to the camp site and set up the tent and put the sleping bags and stuff in the tent and then We head over to Some other classmates camp site to hang out and talk and stuff until sunset. When that time hits we pack up and head to Zabriski Point for a some what disapointing sunset but still very much worth the time. Then its off to the showers (which we had to pay $2 for) and then back to out classmates camp site to cook dinner. I had a can of New England Claim Chowder and everybody else had hotdogs. Then we went back to our campsite and went to sleep with the temp still around 85 but it droped to a more comfy lvl at around midnight.We woke up at around 5am and and went to the sand dunes just outside Stovepipe Wells for the sunrise which turned out to be 100% AWSOME!!! We got to hike into the dunes which in it self was fun as hell (for me anyway) and then watch the sun creep over the crests of the endless mounds of sand. After we got dine it was breackfast time baby!! We went to Stovepipe Wells and chowed down. I tried Coffee for the first time (don't even think about saying beer!!!) it was ok after 5 sugers and 2 creams. Then its time to get back on the road to Navada to visit the Ghost Mining towns of Ryolite, and Carrara both of which were slightly disappointing so we decided to go to BIG Dune Navada. The only way to get close to it is via a ten mile long dirt road. So we get to the point where the nice gravel grated road turns into loose sand and stop b/c the Explorer isn't a 4x4 version and doesn't have off-road tires. We stand up on the door sills and snap a few pictures from a distance and drive off in a very bad mood seeing as me drove all the way out here to see the pile of sand but we couldn't get closer than 2 miles b/c of loose sand!! Anyway we plot a course back to a paved road that will take us back to the park and has a gasstation so we can fill up. We get there and to our shock all the pumps have those little yellow bags on them!!! SHIT!! So i go into the station and walk into a scene out of some movie. The wife counting $$$ on a card table with a cancer stick hanging out of her mouth and the Husband with his weathered face and cracked hands i almost went back to the car to get my camera but didn't b/c we had to get gas and get back. So i ask him where the nearst gas station is he says it 16 miles back up the road. So we had to drive back up the road get the gas then drive back down the road and back into Death Valley. But we make it back to the Campsite and are greated by our classmates coming to us for dinner and they brought the fire wood. I Proceed to make a good fire in about 3 mins (i am good at lighting shit on fire so watch out yall ) and we make Hot dogs and i have Chicken noodle and Veggie Soup. Afterwards i do a couple of pictures of the camp with the tent lit from inside (i have always wanted to do this). So dinner is done and our guests sleep one in the bed of her truck!! and the other in his own tent. The temp was about the same as the night before but it also cooled down the same. The morning was a little different in that i had to brake down the tent and pack it up. I was thinking of jumping the time i was folding the tent and rain fly up. But it didn't take long to fold it up and toss it in the back and off we went to Badwater the lowest point in the United States at 280 ft below sealevel!! The sunrise ended up sucking pretty bad due to thick cloud cover but i found a few decent shots to bad i had to hike way up into a large caynon to get them!! But i wasn't complaining b/c i was there and it was awsome. After the sunrise ended we went to Natural Bridge which is a huge arch of rock that was carved out by flash floods. The road up to it was once again a 2 mile long rough dirt road and then we had to hike it about 1.5miles in a dry river bed to get to it. Now this is where i went kinda nuts with the hole climbing thing. When we get there we discover that there is a pretty well established trail carved into the rock walls so we climb up there and get a few pics and then i go solo and climb across the top which still has the look of being well traveled so i keep going looking for that point were others have turned back but i will not. I find this point and for damn good reason its nothing but loose rock!! but this doesn't shake me and i proceed up and make it!!!! i was so pumped and Jen Took a picture of me standing on the Canyon wall where few have been. I get a few pics and head back down and on the way i dislodge a large rock by accident and i yell down at jen who is now back down on the river bed to watch out she runs to an overhang and ducts. The rock hit about 20 feet away scaring the shit out her. Needless to say i was much more careful from them on down. I get down apologize for the rock slide and we move on up the river bed and find this dry waterfall that had carved a large cool groove into the canyon wall. we break out the camera and i take a few shots but the angle just isn't right i would like to get just a little higher so i climb up on a slope and get a better angle but it still isn't high enough so i realize i am going ot have to climb up this slope to the top. So i pack my camera back up and get going. The first thing that hits my mind is that this slope is kinda krumbly but still climbable so i keep going hand hold by hand hold, foot hold by foot hold i get to the top after a few holds come off in my hand and i get my picture at just the right hight and then it hits me i can't get down!!!! I Call out to Jen who is doing some macro just about 20 yards up the river bed and walks back and i explain my situation and ask her to see if there are any ways to get down farth down the river bed she says that there is one three hills over so i get going and almost fall down the slope when i put my foot down testing the rock i was using. That scared me shitless and i froze!! I kept thinking of somthing that Michele told me when i was freaking about asking for a simple phone # "YOU JUMP OUT OF PLANES FOR CHRIST SAKE!!!" I realize that if i fall the worst i would get was a sliced up leg or two and maybe a broken bone if i don't stop my slide before i get to the drop off that is about 12' above the rocky riverbed. So i get back up and keep moving very slowly testing every single foot hold and in some places stomping my own into the loose dirt with my heel. I get over two of the hills and discover that the third is still too stepe to get down so i go over to the fourth and then slide down to the bottom on my feet and butt painting my shorts a nice orange color I get to the drop off that is a scant 5 feet and three letters flash into my head..........you guessed it PLF!! but no need b/c the there is a pile of sand to land on. Jen gets her camera out to document my "landing" and on the count of three i jump and land in the sand and instantly put my backpack down and think about kissing the ground but discide to sit down and think about what i just did. I realize how fucking stupid it was and that i will bever be able to live it down!!! ahh well i learned alot about myself and my ability to solve life threatening problems not to mention i am not all that bad at rock climbing. not even a stop sign!! Anyway we get all the way to Baker and realize that the sunset is going to be awsome and stop on the side of the 15 and wait. And let me yell you were not tell down. We witnesed the best sunset i have ever seen in my life!!! not exagerating it one bit this sunset was AWSOME!!!!!!. Well after that it was an uneventfull ride home and i unloaded my stuff to the sound of my Mom helping me grandpa out of bed to use the bathroom ahhh home sweet home! Well that my story i know its long as all hell but hey i felt like writing it all out and telling you guys. Also i will have all my Color film in in 24 hours and the B+W will back on Friday. So i will try to scan in the good ones to go with the story IF you read the entire story i am extremely impressed b/c i don't even wanna profread the damn thing!! I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyhi 24 #2 October 23, 2001 Quotei went kinda nuts with the hole climbing thing. QuoteThe hole time Jen...Freudian slips or incredibly well written metaphors? I leave it to the discerning reader.Homer: "If the Bible has taught us nothing else -- and it hasn't -- it's that girls should stick to girl sports, such as hot oil wrestling, foxy boxing, and such and such." flyhi Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RemiAndKaren 0 #3 October 23, 2001 I find you comments misplaced flyhi...briging such a noble and gentlemanly outing down to the depts of your depravity....[sarcasm off]Sounds like you had a good time....RemiMuff 914 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #4 October 23, 2001 FlyHi i have no atraction to this girl what so ever, we are friends. She did however hit on me almost the entire trip!!! Why do the visually challenged ones always hit on me?? Anyway yes i had a blast dispite my excersise in stupidty. I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #5 October 23, 2001 "Why do the visually challenged ones always hit on me??"Hmmm...camping trip, ugly chic hitting on you, no one else around..... Sounds like a perfect opportunity to ride the moped around the block a couple times while your friends aren't looking...."There once was a man named Enis....."-Krusty the ClownClay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #6 October 23, 2001 OH well, I thought this was your new conquest. I was going to say she must be pretty cool if she's a JW and still likes George Carlin. But it wasn't till your next post that I realized this wasn't her. Anyway, I kept going through the story waitng for you to get to the GOOD PART!!"riding the moped.." BWAHAHAHAHAHA!Speed RacerThe problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind-Bogart Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #7 October 23, 2001 "Ride the Moped" OMFG ROTFLMAO!!!!!!! thats the funniest shit i have ever seen in my life!!!!!!!!but trust me this one Moped i plane to stay away from (she has some family issues that i really don't wanna get involved with)I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #8 October 23, 2001 "she has some family issues that i really don't wanna get involved with""The only family that she's ever had.....Were her 7 horny brothers and a drunk ass Dad...He needed money so he put her on the street..." - Sublime"There once was a man named Enis....."-Krusty the ClownClay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #9 October 24, 2001 well the drunk dad is right but she has a sister not 7 brothers. AAAnyways i got my pictures back today and most of them are pretty good. I should have them scanned by wendI swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 3 #10 October 24, 2001 Clay, you are right; he should have DEFINITELY spanked that chick. I cannot believe that he didn't do it when he KNEW that she was hitting on him. Ah.....mis-spent youth. To reiterate a life lesson passed onto me at the tender age of 13: "Boy, every one you turn down is one you missed, and the worst I ever had was wonderful". -Buddy Blue, D-597"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #11 October 25, 2001 Guys i didn't do it b/c she is annoying as hell and has problems, also i am not the kinda guy to just nail a chick b/c i can. plus if i had she would never fucking leave me alone EVER!!!! I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,463 #12 October 25, 2001 >Clay, you are right; he should have DEFINITELY spanked that chick. I cannot believe that he didn't do it>when he KNEW that she was hitting on him. Ah.....mis-spent youth. I've discovered that it's always a mistake to sleep with someone who is significantly crazier than you are.-bill von Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kelly 0 #13 October 25, 2001 billvon,you been stalked by some first time tandem chickies? thats what ya get for screwing around outside the family never thought id say this seeing how im not a southerner but.... "keepin it in the family is the way to go!"ROF. skydiving family, not nieces for you sick little boys.... "i can not attest to what i did, just what i remember...."~me, after one too many Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #14 October 26, 2001 finally some support. I can always count on the Otay crew I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SkymonkeyONE 3 #15 October 26, 2001 Quoteskydiving family, not nieces for you sick little boys.... LOL! Well, that only works till chicks start bouncing around from Instructor to Instructor, etc, etc. Then, it gets really strained. I have seen a shool nearly implode over one little teenage crumpet. ChuckieMy webpage HERE Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflir29 0 #16 October 26, 2001 "i am not the kinda guy to just nail a chick b/c i can"Uhhhh......Hey, if you're gay it's really none of my business......and I don't want to know about your "lifestyle" "There once was a man named Enis....."-Krusty the ClownClay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Viking 0 #17 October 27, 2001 Clay not everyone that respects women is gay. I swear you must have footprints on the back of your helmet - chicagoskydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
